And here’s the latest from this morning – via LZ, we see that the NFL has relented to community pressure and it’s just removed the tacky “50” logo from Alamo Square:

Now it looks like this – the 50 is GONE. The workers must have been arriving just as I was leaving earlier this AM:

And now when you’re up at Union Square, the only way you can tell that San Francisco is hosting the party part of SB50 is this giant sign what’s supposed to tell tourists (and federal law enforcement?) not to keep valuables (or guns?) in cars, due to the high chances of break-ins in Mayor Ed Lee’s Frisco. Sadly, the sign hasn’t been turned on yet. [UPDATE: Oh, per Hoodline, the sign IS on, it’s just that nobody can read it? You know, that’s even worse. The ones I saw last year were legible. Mmm..]

So, questions:

1. Are the NFL people going to repair or replace it and then bring it back? If so, then it will need security 24-7. Perhaps more on-the-clock SFGov employees can “volunteer” some more of “their” time for this purpose?

2. OTOH, perhaps the NFL will remove all the statues from SF? That would be a nice gesture, IMO.

3. Hey, isn’t the local Host Committee supposed to warn the NFL when the NFL wants to do something grossly inappropriate, like isn’t the Committee supposed to have local knowledge?

4. And how is the 50th Super Bowl [SB50] of 2016 not exactlylike the 34th America’s Cup [AC34, aka “THE SUPER BOWL OF SAILING] of 2013? Check it:

“The sculpture had been righted when we returned to the area around 7pm. Then we heard a loud boom around 8:30pm– the satisfying metallic thud which meant it had been toppled again. BRAVO to the person(s) who did this again. SF loves you.”

We’ve reached endgame. If the NFL people want, they can pick up their garbage afore they get cited (I mean, does the official permit allow it to be on the grass/mud? Nope) and then they could use this scrap to try again. I’m saying just look at the coin “art” graphic on the 0 in “50” – it’s been ripped away. It’s not presentable anymo is what I’m saying. Makeshift repairs aren’t going to cut it anymore. This monstrosity will need to go back to its Maker or it will need to be tossed.

Now what would happen if the NFL people replaced / repaired this thing 100% and then brought it back? The same thing, right?

[UPDATE: And the latest alteration from the locals is SUPER BOWL —> ‘SUP BRO? right in front of City Hall, the highest classical dome in the Western Hemisphere. Simply, the NFL’s annual party is not welcome in this town. Sorry.]

And oh yeah, did this thing used to have solar panels? I’ve never seen them – they were the first to go prolly. All what’s left are plastic holes on the back. I’ll tell you, every square foot of this monstrosity has been attacked, in some way or another

You’re not in Kansas anymore, Chief.

Col. Quaritch: You are in Frisco, Ladies and Gentlemen and Arabic Numerals. Respect that fact every second of every day. If there is a Hell, you might wanna go there for some R & R after SB50, cause out there beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes. We have an indigenous population of humanoids called San Franciscans. They’re fond of verbal arrows dipped in a neurotoxin that will stop your solar panels in one minute – and they have backbone. They are very hard to kill. As head of NFL Security, it is my job to keep you “50” sculptures alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you. If you wish to survive, you need to cultivate a strong, mental aptitude. You got to obey the rules: San Francisco Rules. Rule number one…

Man, the people inside the consulate went berserk over this one. They ended up going to the roof to cut her down. (Lucky for her she was just 15 feet above a balcony – if she had fallen to the sidewalk below, it could have been fatal.) And then they blocked the SFFD from taking her to SF General to get her leg injuries treated. (You know, back then, the PRC was kind of a pariah nation.)

Anywho, my point is that the Chinese Communist Party can’t abide** protest, even little ones about proper dress codes, so it will be interesting to see what happens when Democracy finally finds its way to China. Perhaps the CCP would end up the winner in a fair election. Who knows.

But little things, like “underground” performance art protests, have a tendency to turn into bigger things.

Sometimes.

We’ll see.

*I mean I don’t think you should ever broach the topic of the SFMTAMUNIDPT without saying up front that MUNI sucks, that MUNI has lots and lots of room for improvement. This kind of constructive criticism displays the fact that you don’t think that MUNI is the Best Darn Agency in the World or something like that.So you could say, “Of course MUNI sucks, but I think that we should keep on building that horrible Central Subway.” That would be interesting, huh? That would show at least that you acknowledge reality and also that you feel that paying the Feds back their $200,000,000 or so would be a burden on the City and County. And then somebody else might counter with, “Yeah, we should make a deal with the Feds not to spend good money after bad – maybe let’s just forget the whole thing and let’s not require repayment of the money back to the US Treasury. That would be a win-win for San Francisco and all the taxpayers of America.” Or something like that. Now you’re on the trolley!

**Hey, now let’s hear from Mayor Ed Lee “advisor” / Chinese Consulate “advisor” Chinatown “Power Broker” Rose Pak, you know, from back in the day, after she descended from her taxpayer-financed, below-market condo penthouse in District Six:

“When asked what message she would like to convey to the Chinese government, Pak said, ‘On what moral ground do we have as United States citizens lecturing what China should do when our own President would drum up falsehoods and bomb Iraq back to the stone-age, killing several hundred thousand innocent Iraqis. Look at all the problems in the world, (they) are all created by Western countries with their phony-baloney moral standards,’ Pak added.”

“Update on potential interruption to BART’s website and other online services

BART’s online services including web, mobile web, email and SMS are used by nearly 2 million customers every month. We’re disappointed to announce that the BART website may be subject to an online attack today, Sunday August 14, between noon and 6 pm, because this action will directly affect those customers who depend upon our site, as well as the developers who use BART’s open data services to serve BART customers.

We’re doing what we can to defend against any attack on the BART website. BART’s website infrastructure is wholly separate from any computer network involved in the operation of BART service. In the event that bart.gov is not available or working as you’d expect, we encourage you to use the 511.org website for alternative transit information.

“Sooner or later the people in this country gotta realize the government
does not give a fuck about them. The government doesn’t care about you, or your children,
or your rights, or your welfare, or your safety, it simply doesn’t give a fuck about you.
It’s interested in its own power, that’s the only thing, keeping it and expanding it wherever possible.”

We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, WE DO NOT TOLERATE OPPRESSION FROM ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY.
BART has proved multiple times that they have no problem exploiting and abusing the people.
First they displayed this by the two recent killings by BART police. Under no circumstance, unless police are shot at,
make police killings acceptable. Non-lethal weapons were available to use during both incidents,
providing even that was necessary, but instead they shot to kill. Next they violated the people’s right to assembly and prevented
other bystanders from using emergency services by blocking cell phone signals in order to stop a protest against the BART police murders.
Lastly, they set up this website called mybart.gov and they stored their members information with virtually no security.
The data was stored and easily obtainable via basic sqli. Any 8 year old with a internet connection
could have done what we did to find it. On top of that none of the info, including the passwords,
was encrypted. It is obvious BART does no give a fuck about its customers, funders and tax payers,THE PEOPLE.

The governments and government agencies of the world are becoming tyrannical and oppressive,
and the people are responding and will not take your shit for much longer. The people will fight
this oppression with protests, demonstrations, riots, hacking, ddos, online attacks and by any other means.
We will not allow ourselves to be killed, exploited, or get shitted on. From the streets of Chile,
England, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, the people are rising up and we will support each other and
stand in solidarity against any injustice. Worldwide resistance is happening,
we will participate in solidarity against oppression. SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON.

Thus below we are releasing the User Info Database of MyBart.gov, to show that BART doesn’t give a shit about it’s customers and riders and to show that the people will not allow you to kill us and censor us. This is but the one of many actions to come. We apologize to any citizen that has his information published, but you should go to BART and ask them why your information wasn’t secure with them. Also do not worry, probably the only information that will be abused from this database is that of BART employees.

“The woman who assaulted me was that crazy, tattooed homeless woman. She is clearly spiralling out of control. People in this neighborhood (the 7th avenue church) enable her and allow her to sleep on our streets. This has got to stop! Our neighborhood used to be safe! now it’s just overrun by crazies. PLEASE help me get …her off the streets. I deserve to walk down the street (with my child) in my own neighborhood and not get attacked!”

This yuppie got delayed up a bit during his evening drive through the “Theatre District” and the Flank on his way back to San Mateo County the other day. He looked a little peeved due to the pedestrian on the left smashing her fist onto the hood of his Volvo. It was quite the scene.